An experimental search strategy retrieves more precise results than PubMed and Google for questions about medical interventions.

Robert G Badgett,E Glynn Harmon,Susan D Megison,Daniel P Dylla

doi:10.7717/peerj.913

Abstract

Objective. We compared the precision of a search strategy designed specifically to retrieve randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and systematic reviews of RCTs with search strategies designed for broader purposes.Methods. We designed an experimental search strategy that automatically revised searches up to five times by using increasingly restrictive queries as long at least 50 citations were retrieved. We compared the ability of the experimental and alternative strategies to retrieve studies relevant to 312 test questions. The primary outcome, search precision, was defined for each strategy as the proportion of relevant, high quality citations among the first 50 citations retrieved.Results. The experimental strategy had the highest median precision (5.5%; interquartile range [IQR]: 0%–12%) followed by the narrow strategy of the PubMed Clinical Queries (4.0%; IQR: 0%–10%). The experimental strategy found the most high quality citations (median 2; IQR: 0–6) and was the strategy most likely to find at least one high quality citation (73% of searches; 95% confidence interval 68%–78%). All comparisons were statistically significant.Conclusions. The experimental strategy performed the best in all outcomes although all strategies had low precision.

Highlights

Health care providers are encouraged to answer clinical questions by first consulting evidence-based summaries (DiCenso, Bayley & Haynes, 2009)
Studies report that UpToDate and the National Guidelines Clearinghouse addressed less than 80% of questions by primary care physicians (Fenton & Badgett, 2007) and hospital-based physicians (Lucas et al, 2004)
We compared five search strategies taken from four search engines for their ability to answer a collection of clinical questions

Summary

Introduction

Health care providers are encouraged to answer clinical questions by first consulting evidence-based summaries (DiCenso, Bayley & Haynes, 2009). (DiCenso, Bayley & Haynes, 2009) physicians commonly use online resources such as UpToDate (UpToDate, 2014; Edson et al, 2010; Duran-Nelson et al, 2013). The evidence-based summaries UpToDate, Dynamed (DynaMed, 2014), FirstConsult (FirstCONSULT, 2014), and ACP Smart Medicine (American College of Physicians, 2014) have less than 5% overlap in the studies cited, which implies no resource is comprehensive (Ketchum, Saleh & Jeong, 2011). Studies report that UpToDate and the National Guidelines Clearinghouse addressed less than 80% of questions by primary care physicians (Fenton & Badgett, 2007) and hospital-based physicians (Lucas et al, 2004)

Methods

Results

Conclusion